This invention relates to packaging material made from expanded polystyrene (EPS) and, in particular, to a method of recycling EPS to produce loose packaging material.
Expanded polystyrene is commonly used to protect products during shipping. The EPS currently used for loose packaging material is generally the "peanuts" which has smooth and rounded edges. EPS peanuts are not very dense, only about one half pound per cubic foot. Because of its shape and low density, these "peanuts" may allow the product to settle during shipping. If the product does settle, it, of course, looses all the protection afforded by the loose peanuts.
Fast food, eggs, electronic products, tools, and many other types of products are packaged in expanded polystyrene (EPS). This EPS is much denser than the "peanuts." It has a density, on the average, of one to one and one half pounds per cubic foot. If this denser EPS were used to produce loose packaging material, it would not allow the shipped product to settle as easily. This would especially be true if the loose packaging did not have rounded edges and would bridge. However, no process is presently known of which will cut large blocks of EPS into chips suitable for use as a loose packaging material efficiently and economically.